


Repairing a Mind

by beatlechicksteph



Series: Mindhealing Trilogy [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 14:57:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21478246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beatlechicksteph/pseuds/beatlechicksteph
Summary: Hermione is brought to Wakanda to help fix the mind of an Avenger.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Hermione Granger
Series: Mindhealing Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1548160
Kudos: 88
Collections: Marvelously Magical Bingo 2019





	Repairing a Mind

**Author's Note:**

> For my Marvelously Magical Bingo Square: O4: Wakanda

Hermione stepped off the private charter jet into the sweltering heat of Wakanda. She had heard of the country before, and she had always thought the African nation was not quite third world, but not very technologically advanced from the reading she had done. The reality, however, was something quite different. 

The city she was standing in was so much more technologically advanced than she even knew possible. It was like stepping into a science fiction movie. She looked around and couldn’t help it when her jaw nearly dropped to her feet. 

“Impressed?” the young prince, T’Challa, asked as he stepped beside her. 

“Impressed doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Hermione replied, looking around in awe. “How do you keep this a secret from the outside world? I mean, I’m familiar with the way we hide our world from the muggles, but I’m not entirely sure I know how you guys do it.”

“We have a cloaking device that creates a shield around Wakanda, allowing us to hide our civilization from the rest of the world. Otherwise, we would have greedy people coming in and starting wars to steal what we have built.”

Hermione nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I feel as if our two worlds are very similar.”

“How so?” T’Challa asked as he lead her through the bustling city toward the palace.

“Our people are very afraid of Muggles, or non-magical people rather, finding out about our world and essentially murdering us.”

T’Challa nodded. “Yes, it seems our people are very similar indeed.”

As they made their way through the streets, Hermione just kept looking around in awe at the city. It wasn’t very large, but what it lacked in size it made up for in innovations. 

She wasn’t entirely sure why she was chosen to travel with the prince to Wakanda as sort of a magical world ambassador. She was trying to work her way up in the Ministry, but she didn’t really want to do international relations sorts of things. However, she knew she was basically being groomed to be Minister one day, so this was probably one of the things she would need to get used to. However, usually the Minister would only need to help with the relations between the Muggle and Magical governments of Britain. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not quite sure what I’m doing here. I wasn’t exactly prepped.”

T’Challa smiled at her, his grin showing off his beautifully straight white teeth. Something only the daughter of a dentist would notice. He really was quite handsome. “Director Fury didn’t tell you?”

Hermione frowned. “Director Fury? I’m not familiar with who that is.”

It was T’Challa’s turn to frown. “Angry looking man with an eye-patch?” 

Hermione shook her head slowly. “I was summoned to the Minister of Magic’s office two days ago and was told that I would be traveling with you back here as a sort of ambassador of our world. That is it. But I’m in magical law enforcement, and also an expert in mind-magic, so I don’t quite understand why I was chosen to be an ambassador of our world to yours.”

T’Challa stopped, and Hermione stopped with him. “This is very disturbing,” he said. “I was told that you were already part of the Avengers initiative and that you were going to help out with a bit of a problem that we have.”

Hermione sighed and shook her head. “It seems that we were both deceived. Me more than anyone. I don’t even know what the Avengers initiative is. Nor do I know what the problem is.”

“Well, Ms. Granger, let’s make our way back to the palace and I will fill you in on what I know, and you can decide whether or not you’ll be able to help us at all.”

Hermione hiked down the hill toward the little hut where the man she was sent to help was located. T’Challa was going to join her, but he got called away with a problem. 

As she walked, she thought of all the things she had been briefed on. She was kind of kicking herself for not keeping up with the current events in the international muggle world as much as she should have been over the last few years. She had no idea that aliens had invaded nor that there were people with powers running around as superheroes. She had been comfortably tucked away in her office in the ministry working hard to advance her career. And then returning to her apartment where she didn’t have any muggle technology because she just didn’t have time for that. 

Now that she was aware that all of these things had happened, she was in a bit of shock, and she felt quite stupid that she was completely oblivious to an actual alien invasion. Now she was brought in to help heal the mind of a World War II Soldier who had been brainwashed into a killing machine. She was supposed to help take down the mind blocks that were put in to trigger him. 

She finally made it to the little hut and knocked on the door. It swung open and revealed a disheveled man with long brown hair that fell limply around his face. He was wearing a sleeveless black shirt and baggy black pants. Most notably, he worse a large white bandage around where his left arm would typically be. 

“Can I help you?” The man, American judging by his accent, asked.

“Um, yes,” Hermione answered, trying not to stare. “I’m looking for James Barnes?”

“That’s me, who are you, and why are you looking for me?” James asked, immediately becoming defensive.

Hermione couldn’t help her reaction. “You’re James Barnes? But I’m looking for a man who fought in World War II, and you’re, well, you’re about my age.”

James smirked. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”

She shook her head. “Should I?”

He shrugged. “Well, I’ve kinda been all over the news. I’m surprised you don’t know who I am.”

It was Hermione’s turn to shrug. “I don’t watch the news.”

James just shook his head before fully stepping outside of his hut, closing the door behind him. He lead her to a small hill that overlooked the valley. 

There he explained his history. About how he did fight in World War II, and how he was almost killed, but he was found by Hydra where they trained him to be a super soldier who killed on command. They kept him cryogenically frozen, and only pulled him out when they needed him. Which is why he didn’t look his one hundred years. 

“You don’t seem as freaked out about all of this as I thought you would be,” James said when he was finished. 

“Well, I’m a witch, I have magic, and we have our own world. I’ve seen a madman come back from the dead, and have watched his destruction. One Hundred Year Old soldier who looks like he’s in his twenties, not a big deal in the grand scheme of believability.”

James nodded. “So, what are you here for?”

“I’m here to help you, actually. I was sent here because I’m a mind healer. And apparently my reputation has spread beyond my world to yours because a Director Fury has heard of me, which means your friend Captain America has also heard of me, and they wanted me to come here and fix your mind. Remove the triggers.”

“You can do that?” 

“I honestly don’t know. But I can try. And it won’t hurt if I am not successful. If I don’t succeed, the triggers will just remain as they are. If I’m successful, the triggers will be gone, as if they never existed in the first place.”

“How long will it take?”

“A few days, maybe a week. I’ll have to enter your mind, and that can be quite painful and we have to work our way up to getting to the point where you can tolerate me in there long enough to remove the triggers. I don’t want to over tax you.”

She waited as James stared off into the distance, watching as the wind blew through the long grass of the valley.

“Okay,” he said finally. “I’m in.”

“Really?” she said. 

“Yeah, I’m willing to do anything if it means that I can get rid of the triggers. That means I can go on and live a semi normal life.”

“Okay,” She said. “I’m going to try my very best to get you that normal life that you deserve.”

“Fuck!” James yelled as he threw her from his mind yet again. They had been working together for a week, and she wasn’t any closer to getting to the triggers. Just as she would get close to them, he would throw her out of his mind. And the frustrating part was he wasn’t doing it on purpose. It was almost like a reflex for him. Like there was some sort of fail safe built into his brain to prevent someone from finding and removing the triggers.

“I think maybe we were closer that time,” Hermione said. 

“You keep saying that, every time and every time I’ve thrown you out,” James said, frustrated. 

“Well, maybe next time I’ll get all the way in, I’m not ready to give up on you.”

“Well, maybe I’m ready to let you give up,” he said, running his hands down his face. “I don’t know how much more I can take.”

“James—”

“Bucky,” he said.

“What?”

“Bucky, that’s what my friends call me.”

“Oh, are we friends now?”

Bucky shrugged. “Well, we’ve spent most of the last week together, with you inside my mind. I think you qualify as a friend at this point.”

Hermione gave him a soft smile. “Bucky, I know this has been hard, but I have one more thing to try. If that doesn’t work, then I promise, I’ll just give up, and we can move on. And you can figure out another way to remove the triggers. Okay?”

Bucky sighed and then nodded. “Okay. Last try. And then we’re done.”

Hermione sat up straight in the chair that she sat on in front of Bucky, a position she had been in for much of the past week. She met his dark brown stare, which had gone from excited to weary in the course of seven days. She gave him a small reassuring smile before casting Legilimens and diving into his brain. 

As before she was able to quickly maneuver her way through his mind. And as she made her way to the corner where the triggers were, the place she had found many times, but never made it to completely, she could feel the tell tale signs of his mind trying to push her out. Instead of giving into the friction, she pushed her way through. Pushed through the urge to fall out, pushed through the pain, and silently apologized to Bucky for whatever pain this was going to cause him by doing this, but this was the only way. This was the only way to be successful. 

Once she shoved her way through the barrier, there they were: the triggers. All of the built on one another. Layered. She breathed a sigh of relief, and now that she was past the compulsion barrier, she was able to slow down. This was the longest she had been in his mind. And now that she was able to see the triggers, what held them in place she relaxed. No wonder whoever placed the triggers put in that fail safe. The triggers weren’t held in very tightly. They were flimsy at best. Unraveling them from his mind was one of the easiest thing she ever had to do. 

As she finished removing the final trigger, she slowly removed herself from his mind, backing out slowly. She finally emerged, and found herself lost in his dark eyes again. Except instead of finding them weary, she found them curious. 

“That was different,” Bucky said. “You were in there a lot longer. And it was a lot more painful than the other tries. Like a lot more painful.”

Hermione smiled widely at him. “That’s because I did it.”

“You broke through whatever was kicking you out?”

She nodded.

“Did you get a good look at the triggers?”

“I did more than get a good look at them, I removed them.”

Bucky stared at her. “You what?”

“I removed them,” she repeated.

He shook his head in disbelief before standing up and rushing to the table beside his bed. He opened the drawer and pulled out a notebook before rushing back and thrusting it at her. “Read these words, one after another.”

Feeling confident that she did indeed remove the triggers and she wasn’t about to unleash an angry super soldier into the world, she carefully read each of the Russian words on the page he had given her. And with each word, she watched as Bucky grew more and more excited. Once she reached the end of what she assumed was the list of triggering words, Bucky stood up from his seat and let out an excited whoop. He then bent down and scooped Hermione out of her chair and spun her around. 

Hermione laughed as she was flung around the room, held by the super soldier in his one arm. Man was he strong. She didn’t blame him for being so excited. To be weighed down by the burden of any moment someone could trigger him into kill mode just by reading some words from a page must have been terrible. Now, to finally be free. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how he was feeling right now.

He finally set her down, and as they caught their breath, she looked up to see him smiling down at her. “Thank you,” he said, quietly, bringing a hand up to her face, brushing the hair back that had fallen across her cheek in their joy. 

She smiled. “You’re welcome.”

They stood there, looking at each other, tension filling the room. She had noticed through the week, hell the day she had met him, that he was incredibly handsome, but she pushed any thoughts of attraction out of her mind. She was there for a job. Nothing more. But now. Now the job was done, and she could allow herself to be attracted to him, just a little bit. The fact that after she got to know him this week she saw him as kind and brave and very intelligent was beside the point. 

It seemed that time stood still as Bucky leaned down, and captured her lips with his. The kiss began slow and quickly became heated. She felt his tongue run against her lips which she gladly parted granting him entrance. As their kiss deepened, she brought her arms up and around his neck, running her hands through his soft, wavy hair. She felt his arm wrap around her waist and pull her closer to his hard body. Just as his hand was moving its way down to her arse, she pulled away. 

They stood there, catching their breath for several minutes before she spoke again. 

“We should really take a step back and slow down.”

Bucky nodded, “Yeah, I agree. Plus, I don’t know if this door even has a lock on it. I don’t want someone to walk in on us.”

Hermione smiled up at him. “Are you forgetting something?”

Bucky looked down at her, confused.

“I’m magic,” she replied with a grin, before casting a locking and silencing charm on the hut before pulling Bucky down for another kiss.


End file.
